Avoiding negative feedback from a known scammer?

[palegiant]

A scammer has ruined my iPhone auction by entering a winning bid at the last minute.

It's a textbook case of zero feedback, paypal name doesn't match name on address, and googling the address shows that is commonly used by scammers.

This happened to me last year, and and after cancelling the order and refunding scammer his money back, the guy had the cheek to leave me bad feedback. I reported him and asked eBay for neg feedback to be retracted, but nothing happened.

I want to avoid this situation again, as I partially make my living from Ebay, and having any negative feedback hurts sales. What course of action should I take?

I called eBay, and the customer service lady said "Oh, don't worry they can't leave bad feedback after cancelling and refunding" to which I replied "Oh yes they can." She shot back "Oh, really? Well, if that happens, call us, as eBay always has your back."

[stonevintage]

Customer service reps are not Ebay employees.  Never take their "don't worry" comment as a truth.  They can't promise anything and you'll never get the same one back that "promised you".  Call back and tell the CS rep that you need to talk to Trust & Safety.  That may not be easy but it's who you need to talk to.  Tell Trust & Safety your suspicions and what the address returned.  Also, when your conversation with them is finished, ask the person you spoke to if they made notes in the computer re: your call, outcome and ask them for a reference number. 

If you do turn up with a neg on this - you'll need to call Trust and Safety back... letting the CS rep know you have a reference # will save you the headache of trying to get them to transfer you to Trust & Safety again to get the neg removed.

[palegiant]

Great advice, thanks so much!

[tarpedge]

@palegiant, that's a freight forwarder.

This is why you saw so many names, and so many suite numbers at that same street address.

[palegiant]

@tarpedge The buyer's eBay ID is in a language I cannot read (Russian alphabet), so it's clearly going to the Soviet Union, assuming it makes it there and the buyer is a real person. Should freight forwarding addresses always raise a red flag, ie, make one suspicious?

[femmefan1946]

Not really.

Freight forwarders have been around eBay for decades. The first ones serviced Japanese customers.

In fact, eBay has its own freight forwarding service-- the Global Shipping Program.

The seller chooses to use it, rather than the buyer, but the basis is the same.

The seller ships to the GSP plant in Kentucky where her responsibility for delivery ends.

Damage in shipping is covered by the GSP. (Who sometimes open and repack shipments, badly.)

The buyer has to pay duty and sales taxes before the seller ships and the GSP handles all of that for her. The buyer cannot leave FB referring to import costs.

You can see the customer's Cyrllic alphabet name in Roman letters by pasting it into Google Translate or Babelfish.

So with a forwarder, you are covered when the shipment shows delivered to the forwarder's US address.

The buyer cannot claim Not Delivered, because it shows delivered to the forwarder.

The buyer cannot claim Not As Described without returning. The seller is only responsible for Return Shipping from the forwarder's address.

A lot of the problems from forwarded parcels are a result of seller's who panic.

[palegiant]

Hmm, Russians can use an unlocked US iPhone 6 in their country? If so, I guess it could be legitimate. The zero feedback and different address name (could be freight manager?) worry me still. Any other precautions I should take? What would you guys do?

[campesinoplastic2014]

Yes, they can.

[sg51]

I want to avoid this situation again, as I partially make my living from Ebay, and having any negative feedback hurts sales. What course of action should I take?

Did buyer pay?

If so, why not ship?

If buyer paid, why wouldn't you expect a neg if you don't ship?

[pikabo-icu]

Reshippers may seem a little scary but really it's not that bad.

Many outside the US use them to purchase items from sellers that don't ship Internationally.

If Paypal says "ok to ship" once the delivery confirmation is made to the reshipper (address on PP) you should be covered. 

[palegiant]

@sg51

It's a fair point, but the prospect if sending a $400 item to someone with zero feedback, from another country, who's name isn't on the address label isn't exactly a thrilling proposition. My initial thought was if go ahead with this, I could lose the money, the phone, *and* get negative feedback. Blindly sending items out isn't always the best course of action if you're suspicious, that's what the refund money back feature is for.

But yeah, I'll speak to the buyer and we'll sort it out. You guys have eased my mind a little. Thanks!

[sg51]

It's a fair point, but the prospect if sending a $400 item to someone with zero feedback, from another country, who's name isn't on the address label isn't exactly a thrilling proposition. My initial thought was if go ahead with this, I could lose the money, the phone, *and* get negative feedback. 

$400 items attract scammers both domestic and foreign, both zeros and otherwise. 

You can avoid foreign shipment, when you list, but not after the sale.  The refund money feature is not there to cover seller's queasy feeling.  It's there to cover times when buyer requests cancel, and it's there to make buyer whole when seller is willing to pay the large price to refuse to ship, usually because seller can't ship for some reason or another.

I'm not sure why any of the rest of this story is reason to be concerned beyond the normal concern of selling a $400 item.

[stonevintage]

I sell much smaller value items.  I first encountered the reshippers about 7 years ago. One in the Los Angeles area and one out of Miami.

The problem is, if your shipment gets ripped off by one of the warehouse staff in the USA... the shipment stream (tracking) flows thru to destination... their destination!

So, I stopped all sales to reshippers because I got ripped off twice.  Tracking showed arrival at the USA (reshippers) location... then vanished.  Buyer (in ebay's book) didn't receive item so filed INR.  You can't win in this situation.  The only way I prevailed was when I called 1; the 800 Los Angeles (reshippers) number and got instead Japan.  2; Known reshipper out of Miami (actual location Dominican Republic) was investigated and deemed not safe.  

In both cases, ebay refunded my money in full.  Two different situations - Ebay will hold you liable for ship thru from seller to buyer  period.  Even if you specify ship to USA and USA buyer only.  The 3rd party involvement (to shipping warehouse) breaks contract on your part and holds you liable if there is a theft at the warehouse or any point after.....

There are definative indications your item has been purchased by one of these third party sellers.  Specific address labeling instructions including a reference code number are an indicator.  Since I built the "USA buyers and ship to address only" in to all my listings - no further problems.  Hope this helps:)

[pjcdn2005]

I can't speak about your situation but ebay does not hold a seller responsible for an item not received if there is delivery confirmation showing that the package was received at the payment address/reshippers address.